A Freshly Made Heart

It's February, the month of Valentine's Day, so it comes as no surprise that the theme of the first Heart 2 Heart Challenge of the month is "Home is Where the Heart Is."  I have to admit that I followed this Freshly Made Sketch pretty closely, but what can I say?  I need a few Valentines to enclose in my college care packages.

I started by cutting a heart using Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and some strips from Snowhaven.  I applied adhesive to the heart, laid down the strips including a bit of black glitter paper for good measure, flipped over the heart, and cut away the excess.  I planned to add some black sparkles to the centers of the flowers except that I did not have enough, so I used a black ShinHan marker to color some clear bitty sparkles and used those instead.  I ran a sponge with black ink along the very edge of the heart and the polka dot strip with black to help them stand out.  Black hemp, red enamel hearts, and a sentiment from the Holiday Tags stamp set complete the card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you check out Freshly Made Sketches and Heart 2 Heart Challenges for some more inspiration?  You have until the end of the month to enter any of the February Heart 2 Heart challenges.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Snowhaven, black glitter paper, black, red, and white daisy cardsstock, black glitter paper
Ink:  Black with black ShinHan marker
Stamp:  Holiday Tags
Embellishments:  red enamel hearts, bitty sparkles, black hemp (retired)

Merry Penguins

This week's Merry Monday challenge is to create a Christmas card featuring critters with this inspiration photo:

Cute little critter plus snow meant only one thing:  the ice skating penguin from a retired Close to My Heart set, Winter Wishes.  I embossed him with clear detail powder to help him pop, colored him with a ShinHan marker, and while I was coloring, colored a bitty sparkle to give him a sparkle butt.  Amy Kiger would be so proud!  I wanted to use this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and pop up the center panel like several of the designers did.  They call them inspiration projects for a reason...

There was one problem.  I wanted to make a border using use a strip cut from Snowhaven which had black on each side.  I was concerned that with the center popped up, you would be able to see the edge of the border if I used a white card base.  The solution was to use a black card base.  To keep the white core from showing I ran the edges of the borders across a black ink pad.  This is what the card looked like without the center panel:

To make the center panel I used the Cricut Design Space to cut the opening and then embossed it using a folder by Darice.  Anytime I am going to emboss a shape or something with an opening I always do all the cutting first so that I can position the paper in the embossing folder so that the embossed design compliments the shape. That is how I got the snowflakes to dance around the opening. I cut a red and white strip for the horizontal element but decided it was too much red and and that a strip with black and white and a touch of red would work better.  Rather than waste the first piece, I used it on the inside:

I used ShinHan markers to put black dots at the center of the flowers and color the ornament and a chalk marker in the ornament's center.  This helped integrate the colors.

This card was also an opportunity to relive my childhood and play Tic-Tac-Toe with the ladies over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges:

Sketch plus Cricut plus embossing gives me three in a row horizontally.  This might even be a two way if you consider that this card could be suitable for a guy.

Now I have two Christmas cards ready for next year.  Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you visit Merry Monday, Freshly Made Sketches and Heart 2 Heart for some inspiration and maybe enter them yourself?  I would love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:  

Paper:  Snowhaven, Black, White Daisy, and Cranberry cardstock

Ink:  Black pigment and dye inks, Black and Carmine ShinHan markers

Stamp:  Winter Wishes (retired)

Embellishments:  Bitty Sparkle, red baker's twine from Michael's, black button (retired)

Other:  Snowflake embossing folder by Darice, Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge

Freshly Made Snowhaven

In my last post I showed y'all a birthday card featuring Close to My Heart's new Snowhaven paper.  Now here I have used it in a more conventional way to make a Christmas card following this Freshly Made Sketch:

For the focal point I wanted to pick up the motif in the border, so I used CTMH's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut the star on page 25 and then cut it through the center like a pie to get the diamonds.  A Black Epoxy Bubble forms the center.  I couldn't help myself and added some of the new Red Hearts for a bit of fun.  My choice of sentiment was influenced by the fact that this paper pack reminds me of a warm winter sweater.  Here is the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Snowhaven, Glacier, Black, Cranberry, and White Daisy cardstock

Ink:  Black

Stamps:  Very Merry Christmas (retired stamp of the month)

Embellishments:  Red Hearts, Black Epoxy Bubbles

A Snowhaven Birthday Card

Snowhaven may be a winter/snow themed paper, but you don't have to use it that way.  I cut one of the strips out of the striped paper, added a scalloped border and hearts following this sketch from Atlantic Hearts, and had a birthday card with nary a snowflake in sight.

I had a problem with the sentiment. You see, I love the retired Pewter Mini Medley but am down to one last frame which I hesitate to use.  Then it occurred to me that I could use the corner pieces, of which I have quite a few, to make a bracket for the sentiment.  The sentiment, by the way, is a two parter from the retired Card Chatter - Birthday set.  The rest of it is inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Snowhaven, White Daisy, Cranberry and Black cardstock

Ink;  Black

Stamps:  Card Chatter - Birthday (retired)

Embellishments:  Red hearts, Black Sparkles (retired), Pewter Mini Medley (retired)

Other:  Border Punch from ek Success

Two Sides of Snowhaven

Here are two takes on this Atlantic Hearts Sketch:

Each one shows a different side of Close to My Heart's new Snowhaven paper pack.  First up is the bold, vibrant side:

Black, White, and Red is a high energy color combination that is only slightly lowered by the addition of Whisper and Glacier.  The tree is heat embossed and colored with the new ShinHan markers.  I also used a marker to color some clear sparkles to use as embellishments.  

Now take away the red and you get a clean, graphic effect that is calmer:

Once again I heat embossed the tree, but this time I did no coloring and used some retired blue sparkles and a snowflake brad from the old Mistletoe Mini Medley as embellishments.  To make the star motif, I used the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut the star on page 25 and then cut it across from valley to valley to get diamonds.

I personally like the second version better, but the first follows the sketch more closely, so that is the one I will enter.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Snowhaven with Black, White Daisy, Cranberry, and Glacier cardstock
Ink:  Black pigment ink with Carmine and Cerulean Blue Light ShinHan markers
Stamps:  Holiday Wishes (retired), Scandinavian Wishes (retired)
Embellishments:  Clear Sparkles, Blue Sparkles (retired), Mistletoe Mini Medley (retired), Pewter frame (retired)
Other:  Clear Detail embossing powder,  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge